It’s time to hit the long road to redemption:
We have been gradually dumbed down. Numbed down. We grew accustomed to watching a world on fire from afar, somehow believing those flames would never reach our own doorstep.
We got complacent thinking that we were infallible. That American exceptionalism was somehow divine provenance, not a culmination of centuries of hard work, dedication to our ideals and vigilance against all enemies. That our checks and balances could somehow withstand anything, even the enemies from within.
We became increasingly insular in our views, dispassionate to the growing disparities in our communities, to those who didn't look like us, or had a different life story than our own.
Over time, we abandoned our posts as guardians of something special. Something sacred.
Almost a hundred million didn't bother to vote in this election. Contemplate the level of apathy and cynicism it takes for so many to not care whether we remain a functioning democracy or not, whether the president is a criminal or not, whether he is beholden to our foreign enemies or not.
We watched Trump and the oligarchs literally reshape reality for millions of Americans. Watched as they turned truth into fake news. Corruption into disruption. Criminality into heroism. We watched the fourth estate fall. We watched our fabled guardrails collapse.
Now they are poised to pillage. Ready to burn down anything that threatens their quest for unchecked power.
We are left with the unenviable tasks of slowing them down and somehow rebuilding a coalition that is running low on morale, faith and courage.
It is time to move beyond convenient scapegoats...what a few individuals or voting blocks could or should have done. The challenges we face are deeper and broader than many care to admit. We face dangerous levels of apathy, cynicism and willful ignorance. It's become easier to manipulate the public with falsehoods than it is to free them with the truth.
Our challenges are to keep truth alive in a sea of misinformation. To rebuild faith in each other when all appears lost. To summon courage when it would be easier to give up.
We have to change the way we bring more into this fight. The way we think and how we engage. We cannot rely on oligarch owned media. We each have to each take on the responsibility of building our own communities and creating meaningful dialogue with both the disengaged and the disenfranchised.
Most will not remain unscathed by another Trump administration. They will be ready to listen as his reckless actions hit their wallets. Fox News will scapegoat immigrants and Elon will blame the woke mind virus. It's our job to connect with people and show them the truth...with less shaming and the I told you so's. Again, we have to change the way we engage others.
Every authoritarian has one fear, no matter how much they tear down the institutions of accountability, how many oligarchs and loyalists they amass. They fear the people.
A people united in cause and purpose have what an authoritarian craves and can never fully possess. Absolute power.
It's our job to build that unity.
Every day.